Sheet-metal flush car-door



A. S. BARROVVS.

SHEET METAL FLuSHpAH n-ooR.

APPLICATION -FILED SEPT. 10 19H.

` @mmm 25,19%

` Jal.

N/VN,

l @l t f @MWL/Tfn ALLAN S. BARROWS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SHEET-METAL FLUSH CAR-DOOR.

assenso'.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 25, 1921.

Application filed September 10, 1917. Serial No. 190,500

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ALLAN S. Bannows, a citizen of the United States, residing at (.lhicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Sheet-Metal Flush Car-Doors, of which the following is a. full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in sheet metal Hush car doors.

One object of my invention is to provide an all-metal flush door more particularly adapted for use on railway box cars and having' great strength to resist lateral thrusts in proportion to the weightof the metal employed.

Another object of my invention is to provide a door of the character above indicated which is adaptedto be made from a' single sheet of metal and have the edges and body portion thereof strengthened entirely by integral formations.

Another and more specific object of the invention is to provide a sheet metal door of the so-called Hush type for railway cars which door is of minimum thickness, consistent with successful service, around its edges to thereby reduce to a minimum the depth of the recessing in the door frame by which the door is made flush and thusA prevent the customary weakening of the door frame necessitated by the use of present thick wooden flush doors.

The invention furthermore consists in the improvements in the parts and devices and in the novel combination of the parts and devices herein shown, described and claimed.

In the drawing forming art of this specification, Figure l is a si e lelevation of a portion of a car showing one form of my improvements in connection therewith. Fig. 2 is a horizontal, sectional view upon a somewhat larger scale, of the structure illustrated in Fig. l. Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical, sectional view taken substantially on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawing, l0 denotes the side wall of a wooden box car having the usual side door opening thereint said opening being dei-ined by side posts ll--lL thresholdv l2 and lintel 13. improved door is designated generally by 'the lreference Said. improved door It., as is made of a single piece of sheet metal of comparatively small gage, 2 being sutticient for commerclal practice. The door is of rectangular formation to correspond to the'door opening and the sheet of metal 14 of which the door is made has the edges thereof doubled back closely upon itself, as indicated at Al5-15 on the vertical side edges, at 16 along the top edge, and at 17 along the lower edge. By doubling the edges of the door as above described, the effective thick- .ness thereof is equal to substantially twice the thickness of the sheet metal, that is, i, and extremely strong edges are thus pro` vided well adapted to resist blows which might otherwise cause serious indent-ation, and without the necessity of employing any bracing beams with the consequent additional expense of punching and riveting. At the same time, the edges of the door are relatively thin and consequently therabbets or recesses l8-18 in the door frame members can be made very shallow so that the door frame members are not weakened. Heretofore, in flush car door st-ructures, the doors have been made relatively thick so that it has been necessary to cut away a relatively large proportion of the door posts and other members of the door frame with consequent weakening of the car structure. Also, in prior flush door structures, on account of the thick doors employed, the rabbeting to receive the same has had to be made considerably larger than the size of the door itself in order to permit the proper setting of the door in the event the door framing becomes distorted as frequently occurs in the operation of cars. My arrangement overcomes these ditliculties as above pointed out.

In order to strengthen the door against lateral thrusts, particularly thrusts received from the lading within the car, the door A is provided with inwardly extended vertical ribs 70 and between the latter is dished inwardly, as indicated clined portions 19-l9 around the four sides of the door. As an additional strengthening means, the dished portion is provided with a series vof outwardly extended preferably horizontal ribs or corrugations 20-20 although it will be obvious that other forms of corrugations and dishing may be employed to accomplish the saine result.

TFor operating the Hush door, the following mechanism is employed: Upper and lower 2i and 22 are secured to by the beveled or inouter face of the car and at its forward or advance end, the door A is provided at the top with a hanger bracket 28 and at the bottom with a corresponding bracket 24, both being of well known or desired form. At its rear edge, the door is provided with a pair of bearings 25-25 in which is rotatably mounted an operating shaft 26, the latter being operated by a handle 27. At its lower end, the shaft 26 is provided with a crank arm 28 in which is pivotally mounted about a vertical axis a bracket 29 which engages the lower track 22. At its upper end, tthe shaft 26 is provided with a similar crank arm 28 in which is pivotally mounted about a vertical axis av combined support-` y the door will be drawn outwardly as the shaft swings about the brackets 29 and 30 after which the door can be moved to open position. In order. to positively insure the forward edge of the door being forced to flushposition and to also prevent any danger of said portion of the door being sprung outwardly by shifting loads, the forward edge of the door is provided with a plurality of wedge-shaped castings 35 which are adapted to engage the undercut surfaces 36 on a corresponding number of brackets 37 secured to the side of the car.

ing required The door being made of relatively light sheet metal, its total weight is comparatively small and with the integral strengthening features thereof-render said door extremely strong and rigid,and on account of the thin edges, weakening of thedoor frame members is avoided as heretofore pointed out.

I claim:

In a flush car door construction, the combination with a car wall having a door open-` ing therein defined by wood framing, the latter being provided with shallow rabbeting around the door opening on theouter side of the car wall; of a sheet metal door composed of relatively thin sheet metal of a single thickness except around the marginal portions which consist of flat multiple-plies vof sheet metal of a total thickness corresponding to the depth of said rabbeting, the sheet metal of the door, within said marginal portions, being provided with strengthening indentations to resist transverse thrusts, of an effective over-all thickness greater than the thickness of said flat marginal portions, said indented portions of the door being disposed inwardly of the outside plane of said flat marginal portions and extending within the door opening when said fiat marginal portions are seated within said shallow rabbeting, whereby the depth of the rabbetin the wood framing is less than said effective over-all thickness* of the door.

In witness that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my name this 25th day of Aug., 1917.

`ALLAN s. BARRows.

said indentations producing a door 

